##Its finger painting time!##
Up to this point, Riley has only done painting in a bag. Today it was time to explore the feel of paint and let her get creative. I knew this would be a messy ordeal, so I put down our plastic table cloth and taped it down with painters tape. I didn't want the plastic cloth shifting or being pulled up by Riley. I then taped down her papers and paint plate as well so she wouldn't move them around, dump them over, or even rip the paper. Even though we were using washable finger paint, I still decided to have Riley wearing only her diaper for this activity to save the clothes, but also so that the activity would be a full body sensory experience.
When I put Riley down, I expected her to go right for the paint. Instead, she sat there looking at me. I showed her how to dip her fingers in the paint and then wipe them on the paper. No excitement. I helped her stick her hand in the paint and make a hand print. She was not having it. I brought out the sponges because those were new and I thought maybe she would be more interested in them. Still, Riley was not having it! She ended up crawling right through the paint plate and into my lap (as if to say, 'nice try mama, you did your best'). From that point on, we painted together as I held her.
About two weeks later, I decided to try again. Riley kept finding the paint jars and pulling them off the shelf, and I thought it might be time to give this another go... with a few changes.
First, I left her in a onesie because I wanted to be able to post the pictures of Riley painting. Also, since Riley is rarely without clothes, I thought maybe that was part of what made her uncomfortable the first time.
Second, I let Riley pick three colors of paint and I put each color in a clear Pyrex bowl because I know Riley loves to play with bowls.
Third, I didn’t tape anything down so that Riley could move and pick things up at her leisure.
...and Riley loved it!
She immediately picked up the bowls of paint and tilted them on their side while giggling as the paint moved around in the bowl. She stuck her hand in each bowl and would inspect her hand after pulling it out. She would then stick her hand in a different color and inspect again as the color of her hand had changed. She ran her fingers on the paper and dragged the bowls through the paint on the paper. She wiped paint all over her legs and arms. She picked up the papers and turned them over-covering both sides. She dipped the sponges in the bowl and then plopped them on the paper. Repeating the process over and over. By the end, no paint was left in the bowls and Riley, the papers, and the table cloth were covered in blue, orange, and red. Riley loved it, and if it weren’t for lunch time, I think she would have been content to continue for another 20-30 minutes.
After spraying shout on her onesie and throwing it in the washer right away along with her other clothes, all the stains came out. Thank goodness for washable paint! All the paint came off Riley’s skin no problem with no staining. Riley gets a bath at night so even though we do these messy activities in the daytime (usually the morning), I just spot clean her with wipes and a wash cloth in the moment. Then that night, I will give her a bath to really make sure she is clean. I don’t give her a bath in the moment because a night time bath is part of her bedtime routine and we stick to our routines and schedules around here pretty closely. I feel it’s a big part of why Riley has been such a great sleeper.
Links to materials
